UB Global HIV Research Day keynote to be given by UB alumnus

By: Sara Saldi

“Dr. Becker is a leader in the global efforts to defeat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria”

Gene D. Morse, PharmD, associate director of the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics

professor of pharmacy practice

Gene D. Morse

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The International Pharmacotherapy Education and
Research Initiative (IPERI) will recognize UB Global HIV Research
Day with a keynote presentation from Stephen Becker, MD, deputy
director of HIV in the Global Health Department of the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.

Becker’s address, “The Bill & Melinda Gates
Approach to HIV: A Global and Public Health Perspective,”
will take place from 9–10 a.m. March 11 in the Bruce Holm
Commons at UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, 701 Ellicott St., Buffalo.

It is free and open to the public.

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Becker deliver the
keynote,” said Gene D. Morse, PharmD, professor of pharmacy
practice, associate director of the center and director of the
Translational Pharmacy Research Core.

Morse is co-director of IPERI with Charles Chiedza Maponga,
which was established in 2006 by Morse and Maponga, directors of
the UB-University of Zimbabwe (UZ) AIDS International Training and
Research Program (AITRP).

“Dr. Becker is a leader in the global efforts to defeat
infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria,” said Morse. “He is, as well, a member of the
UB-UZ AITRP Scientific Advisory Board, and in this role he
contributes to the review of the AITRP’s HIV research
training and capacity-building efforts.”

Individuals with an interest in global health, including those
from the community, government and academic settings, are the
target audience for this presentation, according to Morse.

Becker has pursued research in HIV pharmacology and
pharmacogenomics, and is the author of numerous publications in HIV
therapeutics, pharmacology and clinical outcomes research. He has
initiated, led or participated in more than 150 clinical
trials.

Currently working as a senior program officer, Becker’s
responsibilities include clinical development activities for
pre-exposure prophylaxis, antiretroviral dose optimization
approaches, HIV pharmacovigilance and global resistance
surveillance.

Before joining the foundation, Becker worked for 25 years as an
academic clinician, clinical researcher and in the biotechnology
field, where he led development teams for two novel classes of
antiretroviral agents. He most recently was chief medical officer
at Koronis Pharmaceuticals and previously served as medical
director and HIV team leader at AnnorMED.

Becker previously was a faculty member at the University of
California, San Francisco, where he led an academic private HIV
practice and clinical research site.

He received his medical degree from UB’s School of
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

He is board-certified in internal medicine following training at
the Cook County Hospital. He was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson
Clinical Scholar at the joint program of the University of
California, San Francisco and Stanford University Medical schools.
He joined the faculty of the University of California, San
Francisco following completion of his fellowship training.

Becker also has been a member of the editorial board of several
peer-review journals and served as a grant reviewer for an HIV
philanthropic foundation.

Becker’s research and clinical practice are a perfect fit
for IPERI.

“The mission of IPERI is to provide a mechanism that
facilitates collaborations between the New York State Center of
Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, UB’s School
of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and universities and their
investigators around the world,” said Morse.

He said that the goals of IPERI are to promote technology
transfer in support of evidence-based clinical pharmacology and to
share with resource-limited settings (like developing countries)
successful medication management strategies that have been
established in developing countries.

“Ideally, the program will shine a spotlight on the
efforts that UB has led and has contributed to in terms of a global
health community seeking to achieve an AIDS-free generation,”
said Morse.

For more information, contact Bonnie Lesinski at bpl@buffalo.edu
or 716-881-1704.

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